Redeemer (Image Comics)
The Redeemer, originally introduced as Anti-Spawn, is a fictional character in Todd McFarlane's comic book series Spawn. The Redeemer is Heaven's answer to the Hellspawn. From time to time, the Ethereal Masters seek the assistance of the Star Hive: a heavenly, magical space station to create durable, loyal soldiers for the forces of God. This mysterious organization chooses mortals it feels are worthy and transforms them into Angelic warriors on par with Hell's minions, specifically the minions of Malebolgia. Much like their demonic counterparts, the Redeemers carry the same limitless rage inside their souls, however the core of their anger is that of light rather than darkness. Publication history First Redeemer (Anti-Spawn) The first Redeemer, or Anti-Spawn, as he was referred to at the time, was Jason Wynn, the very man responsible for Al Simmons' death, and therefore indirectly responsible for his transformation into a Hellspawn. Through nuclear diffusion, his body and soul were melded with Elemental Fire of Heaven, Heaven's answer to Hell's Necroplasm. The Elemental Fire causes Wynn a great amount of pain and suffering, which can supposedly only be alleviated by Spawn's defeat. Frenzied with pain, the Anti-Spawn mercilessly attacks Spawn, who is seemingly unable to defend himself against this new threat. As the Anti-Spawn was about to deliver the killing blow, a distraction provided by the bums in the alley gave Spawn an opening to defeat the Anti-Spawn. Wynn was recalled to the Star Hive, where he was to infused with even more Elemental Fire seemingly due to his lack of purity preventing him from harnessing its true power during the first attempt. This apparently fails as the next appearance by Wynn is two days after his disappearance, where he is shown restored to humanity, with no memory of his encounter with Spawn or the Star Hive. Second Redeemer After Jason Wynn the second man to receive the Celestial Fire was a former prison inmate named Phil Timper. Heaven decided that while Wynn was strong enough to take the elemental fire, his corrupt soul diminished his effectiveness channeling the fire, therefore the decision was made that the next Redeemer needed to have a good soul in addition to all the other qualities needed. Phil Timper had found religion while serving time in prison and spent years after his release doing good works such as opening a soup kitchen and feeding the homeless - he was therefore more apt to receive the heavenly light. Due to his past life as a criminal, he retained the brutality necessary for a candidate for the Celestial Fire. He was taken and infused as Wynn before him. During this process, the agents of the Star Hive detected an odd reading on Gazer and sent the Redeemer to investigate and collect the source of this reading. He was sent to Rat City, tracking three necroplasmic readings, emanating from Cogliostro, a bum named Bobby (whom Spawn had recently resurrected through magic), and Spawn. This Redeemer was significantly more powerful than Spawn and was easily able to defeat him before taking his true target, Bobby away to the orbiting satellite for study. Spawn attacked a Celestial base on Gazer which prompted the Redeemer to teleport back to Gazer with Bobby and engage Spawn again. In the ensuing battle, Spawn was able to slice off one of the Redeemer's hands and escape with Bobby as the raw energy erupting from the Redeemer's wound caused a distraction. Timper has not been seen since. Third Redeemer Spawn tried to help Eddie and Andy Frank, children with an abusive father, by using his powers to tattoo the phrase "I beat my kids", over their father's body. Unfortunately, this just made him beat them even more until Eddie ended up taking matters into his own hands and killed his father, a memory which he represses. He projects his own guilt onto Spawn. Years later, after some time in juvenile institutions, Eddie found religion. Later, he goes on a shooting spree and is critically injured, according to his plan. His desire for vengeance upon Spawn leads to his rebirth as the Redeemer. Eddie's soul leaves his body and transforms into a new Redeemer. Unlike the previously-seen incarnations, this one is heavily armored, wields a sword and flies via wings. The previous Redeemers used the power of teleportation also held by Hellspawn. This Redeemer also seems to lack the energy projection powers of his predecessors, however his sword does appear to harness the Angelic Fire that they were able to project. Eddie's transformation appears to be Mammon's plan as well, as Mammon knows exactly who the new Redeemer is and visits him in the hospital in order to tell him the truth about his father that he's been denying and repressing, shaking Eddie's faith. This revelation halts the Redeemer's attack on Spawn, who is pulled into Hell. The Redeemer is then enlisted by Cog to follow him into Hell to save Spawn. Cogliostro sent him to retrieve the box that holds The Last Seed of Eden and upon completing that task he heads back into the fray. After Cogliostro's coup, he is trapped in Hell until Nyx frees him. The Redeemer resumes his attack on Spawn, but Spawn triumphs by cutting off the Redeemer's wings with his own sword. Upon having his wings cut off, the Redeemer transforms back into Eddie Frank in a hospital gown and struggles to reach for his sword but passes out. It is unknown how Eddie's body was inside the Redeemer considering the depiction of his origin in previous issues, and his physical self should still be lying comatose in a hospital bed, but there may simply be a magical explanation for his appearance. Eddie has never been seen since. Other appearances An ancient Redeemer was portrayed in the Spawn spin-off series Spawn: The Dark Ages. Appearances in other media The Redeemer has played a large part in much Spawn related media. He has been featured in almost every Spawn video game released since the first title launched on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Redeemer has been a popular staple of the Spawn action-figure series as well, with two figures based on the character as he appears in the core title and one from Series 30, which is directly tied to the web-comic The Adventures of Spawn. In the web-comic, The Redeemer is an actual angel who was also one of the original Lords of Light and is supposedly the last of his winged clan of guardian angels. He resigns his commission with Heaven to head to Earth. He is an ally of Spawn despite a savage battle in their first encounter. He shares the same costume design as Redeemer III (Eddie Frank), but the two are distinctly separate characters with very different origins. See also * Spawn villains Category:Image Comics supervillains Category:Characters created by Grant Morrison Category:Judeo-Christian mythology in comics Category:Characters created by Todd McFarlane Redeemer, The Redeemer, The Redeemer, The Category:Fictional characters who can fly Redeemer, The Category:Fictional characters who can teleport Category:Fictional characters who can manipulate light Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1993